Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi Junior High, which aired on CBC and PBS from 1987 to 1989!  The series can be streamed on YouTube!

After spending the half of season 2 in the background, Caitlin takes center stage in this week’s episode.

Episode 2.5 “Stage Fright” 

(Dir by John Bertram, originally aired on February 1st, 1988)

Caitlin (Stacie Mistysyn), who is destined to become a major figure in the Degrassi franchise, finally gets a season 2 spotlight episode.  As the episode starts, she is undergoing a round of scary brain scans as the result of having had a seizure during the break.  The result of those scans is that Caitlin is diagnosed as being epileptic and is put on medication to control the seizures.

The problem, of course, is that Caitlin has to take the medicine three times a day and that includes at school.  Caitlin doesn’t want to take her medicine at school, especially when one of her classmates is the gossipy and judgmental Kathleen (played by Rebecca Haines).  It’s hard enough with her parents constantly worrying about her without having to deal with what all of her classmates are going to think.

So, Caitlyn doesn’t tell anyone that she has epilipsey.  And when she goes to Susie’s latest sleepover, Caitlyn doesn’t take her medicine with her.  (You know where this is going, right?)  Caitlin has a seizure in front of everyone, including Kathleen!

Now, not only does Kathleen know that Caitlin is epileptic but Kathleen has also been cast as the lead in the school play, with Caitlin playing a supporting role.  At first, Caitlin says she won’t do the play but Susie points out that Caitlin is just saying that because she’s jealous of Kathleen getting the lead role.  Plus, Rick Munro (Craig Driscoll, getting his first major season 2 storyline) is there to tell Kathleen to shut up when Kathleen starts to talk about snidely about Caitlin’s seizure.  Go Rick!

While this is going on, poor Michelle (Maureen McKay) struggles with her natural shyness when she’s assigned to give a speech in class.  Joey is a real jerk to her in this episode.  Bad Joey!  The grown-up Joey from Degrassi: The Next Generation would really hate teenage Joey.  Fortunately, Michelle eventually does what every shy person does when they have to give a speech.  She opens with a joke.  By the end of class, Joey is begging her to help him write his speech.

Oh, I could relate to this episode on so many levels.  First off, like Michelle, I know what it’s like to be shy.  (Unlike Michelle, I deal with being shy by talking so much that there isn’t any time for any awkward silences.)  As for Caitlin’s storyline, I am not epileptic but I’ve been diagnosed with enough things that I do know what it’s like to have a well-meaning parent driving you crazy by asking a hundred questions about how you’re feeling and whether you’re taking your meds.  That said, what really made me relate to Cailtin is the fact that I have asthma and, in high school, I always dreaded the idea of 1) having an asthma attack in front of everyone and 2) having to use my inhaler while everyone stared at me.  Even worse were the times I would realize that I had left my inhaler at home and I would spend so much time worrying about it that I would almost give myself an attack from stress.  I would always end up calling my mom or one of my sisters and begging them to bring me my inhaler.  Of course, I would also have to find a way to sneak out of the building so that they could give me the inhaler without it becoming a big scene….

(In retrospect, I think I may have made things a bit more complicated in high school than they needed to be.)

My point is, this was a good episode that dealt honestly and nonjudgmentally with issues that all teenagers throughout history have had to deal with.  This episode was Degrassi at its best.